Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Just before the Holidays it was a busy few months, and this blog to show you a Structural Foundation Repair I just completed using Carbon Fiber Straps.
Little about foundation cracks... Foundation settlement or movement is caused when a home or any structure is built on expansive clay, soft or improper backfill soil placed around it, other causes are seasonal high water table and Hydrostatic ground pressure which was the cause for the foundation failure on this job I just completed, it can also be cause by improper maintenance around foundations,i.e back pitched drainage, gutter and leader failure,etc. Such settlements can destroy the value of structures and your home and even make them unsafe. So if you have any crack in your foundation wall, no matter how small it is, you should have it fixed and it is not sufficient to simply fill the crack, because you should restore the structural stability of the structure. This in most cases requires reinforcement to prevent further wall movement.
If you located in NJ, drop me an email with some pictures and I will make a suggestion what should be done, or I will meet with you and assess any damage that has occurred and determine the best plan for your situation. Small cracks can end up causing big problems in the future and more expensive repairs.
About Carbon Fiber, that is the strongest material out there, it can withstand pressure 10 times better then steel. When foundation block wall starts to move or bow out, the mortar joints on the inside open from the deflection inward. Using Carbon Fiber straps which are bonded to the wall with a high strength epoxy, prevent the deflection and prevent mortar joints to open up further and due to that its increasing the load strength of the wall, so basically it will permanently stabilize the foundation from further movement.
Yes it's a strap it gets attached to the foundation with high strength epoxy. The strap runs from the top course to the bottom course 4'OC. The strap is only 4 1/8" wide and 1/8" thick. Here is a few pictures of the strap I took to give you a visual.

In addition, we do the same repairs on the concrete poured foundation wall, only when working with concrete wall, we use injection system to seal the crack .i.e we drill holes along the crack and we install injector ports and starting from the bottom up and fill the crack. in addition we use carbon fiber staples... The strap is used on the block wall. It is new technology and is the most advanced system today for structural foundation repair, which is used on bridges, etc and this form of repair remedy is suggested by most architects and engineers who're familiar with this system...

The following is a few pictures from the job I just did, you will see Structural Foundation damage caused by Hydrostatic pressure and a short video of surface preparation, prior to Carbon Fiber Strap installation. I couldn't upload a large video, but you can get an idea in this smaller video the dustless wall preparation.The video doesn't have sound, only a small portion of it near the end, when the block wall is being prepped... so please have your volume down because the sound will appear and it will knock your socks off.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

I am back, it was a busy Thanksgiving Holiday and before that this job had to be completed before the Holiday and everything went as it was planned and the Homeowner was so pleased with the outcome of this job, that the first time in almost 30 years in business and being the owner of my business I was rewarded by the Homeowner with a very generous tip for the job well done and it sure felt good. Thank you again Clay & Dianna if you ever read this!

Now to the job well done...

After the big rain storm and flood that we had from the last nature's outburst, this basement was flooded with about 4-6" of water. Most of the stuff was ruined,including a beautiful wall unit set that spanned about 13' along the rear wall. All the the trim, doors, sheetrock and cabinetry was removed and disposed. Here is a few pictures after the place was cleaned up and all insulation was removed and dried by a company specializing to do this work and they did a beautiful job.

After cleaning up the studs and plates from nails and screws that were left after trim and sheetrock was removed, the insulation was replaced along the perimeter of exterior walls.

After insulation was completed, the sheetrock was applied to all interior wall surfaces and taping process began.

Fan was installed to provide air movement throughout the basement for even drying of the drywall compound.

After drywall compound was dry and sanded, door and trim installation was in progress. 5 1/4" colonial base molding was installed to give a nice exposure above the carpet.

After painting was completed, a hangin wall entertainment center was installed. Homeowner requested to design something hanging above the floor, just encase another unfortunate incident would happen and the wall unit will not get damaged, not to mention this system can be removed and moved to a different location.

After the wall unit was installed and custom doors arrived and installed, crown molding above the unit was install, and now we're ready for the carpet installation.

Beautiful Berber Carpet was selected by the Homeowner and installed and we can say another job was done with complete customer satisfaction. It took 14 days to complete this job.

Next job is a structural foundation wall repair, were I be installing Advanced Carbon Fiber Straps to reinforce a foundation wall, I cannot wait to share some pictures with you.